An Arizona family has been rescued after being lost at sea for 91 days while attempting to flee the evils of equal rights in America. According to Hannah Gastonguay, she and her husband Sean don’t believe in abortion or homosexuality, and in an attempt to distance themselves from the “government-controlled church,” they decided to “take a leap of faith and see where God led [them].”
It’s not unheard of for religious extremists like Sean and Hannah Gastonguay to pack up and live in seclusion in remote areas of the U.S., but the Gastonguays put a new spin on the old self-imposed exile game when they packed up their two young daughters and set sail on the Pacific Ocean only to become lost at sea. Their destination: Kiribati, a small island nation where homosexuality is punishable by up to 14 years in prison, and abortion is illegal even in cases of incest and risk to a woman’s health.
Unfortunately, God led the Gastonguays to being lost at sea and straight into a series of bad storms which left them lost, their small craft damaged and the family in danger of starvation. According to Hannah Gastonguay, by the time they were rescued, their supplies had dwindled to nothing but juice and honey.
At one point, the Gastonguays encountered a Canadian cargo ship, but it only bumped the small boat that was lost at sea, causing more damage on top of that sustained by the squalls the family had run into. However, their faith was unshaken by their misfortune, and they continued to pray as their boat was battered by bad weather. Hannah Gastonguay says she knew she would see miracles, and expressed amazement that the storms eventually ended and the sky once again turned blue. Even while lost at sea, they felt confident that God was steering them.
The Gastonguay family — including daughters Ardith, 3, and 8-month-old Rahab, along with Sean’s father, Mike — never made it to their island refuge. After three months of being lost at sea, the Gastonguays were rescued by a Venezuelan fishing boat. Now that they’ve finally hit dry land again in Chile, the family is headed back to Arizona to decide on their next move. Perhaps someone should clue them in to what’s going on in North Carolina these days; they’re less likely to be lost at sea on their way there, and the politics are coming dangerously close to what the Gastonguays sought in Kiribati.
Photo of Kiribati Island? from earthobservatory.nasa.gov.
edited/published by eap
